ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes (CBO) students and staff facilitated a series of biodiversity conversation activities during the 2016 ASU Homecoming celebration on Saturday, October 22, engaging close to 100 visitors of all ages.

Through fun and interactive games, the CBO crew shared facts on sustainable palm oil production and our dependency on rain-forests for food, medicine and shelter. Visitors also learned easy tips to become better informed consumers with capacity to positively impact food production for the benefit of all species.

Future ASU undergrad and graduate students also had the opportunity to learn about sustainability and life sciences programs available to them, as well as opportunities to collaborate with CBO partner organizations.

Sally Kitch and Xin Wei Sha

Through the National Endowment for the Humanities Chairman’s Grant, Kitch and Sha were able to participate in the "Humanities Laboratory: Discussion of New Campus Models". The discussion focused on a variety of ways that humanities can be combined within multiple fields to create interdisciplinary work that embodies solutions to the complex challenges we face today.

In order to meet the energy demands of an increasingly industrialized world, renewable energy systems will require a lot of hardware. This hardware will inevitably become a part of our landscapes – a reality that doesn't please everyone.

That's why a cross-disciplinary team of five scientists – including Senior Sustainability Scientist Mike Pasqualetti – came together to write "The Renewable Energy Landscape: Preserving Scenic Values in our Sustainable Future." The recently-released book seeks to address the tension between conservation efforts and the need to develop sustainable energy alternatives.

The book takes care not to discredit landscape quality concerns, which are typically expressed by the people people living near technologies like solar fields and wind farms. Rather, it proposes a responsible compromise; if sustainable energy is a must, then the infrastructure can be built in a manner where its disruptive effect on the landscape is minimized.

As part of a larger effort to boost the development of solutions for Pakistan’s growing energy needs, the second group of graduate students from Pakistan recently arrived at Arizona State University to study energy engineering.

ASU is coordinating the graduate student exchange program – called the U.S.-Pakistan Centers for Advanced Studies in Energy – in an effort to train students to be change agents in helping both countries improve their energy systems. Support for USPCAS-E is part of $127 million investment by USAID to improve Pakistan’s agriculture and food security, as well as access to water and energy.

Senior Sustainability Scientist Sayfe Kiaei, who directs USPCAS-E, believes that ASU is important to the program’s goals because, “The center is a link between ASU’s researchers and international development funding agencies, as well as implementers who are working in developing countries worldwide.”

In addition to his job with the engineering programs, Henderson has been connecting with students throughout ASU in his other positions as an associate dean of Barrett, the Honors College, a senior sustainability scientist for the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Institute of Sustainability, and as an affiliate faculty member with the School of Public Affairs. These are among the accomplishments that make Henderson more than worthy of his recent designation as an ASU President’s Professor.

Historically, policies for agriculture, energy and water have been made in isolation of one another. In reality, these systems are all interconnected – an interplay called the food-energy-water nexus.

As demands on each sector of the nexus continue to grow, the siloed approach to policies involving limited natural resources impedes a sustainable future. That's what a transdisciplinary team of five ASU researchers – including senior sustainability scientists Dave White and Rimjhim Aggarwal – have set out to remedy with a $3 million award from the National Science Foundation.

The team conducts research to build decision support tools that look at the interdependence of these systems and help develop sustainable policies for the future. Each member brings his or her own area of expertise to define, analyze and visualize problems within the  nexus, creating a more complete understanding.

Molly Cashion, a recent MA graduate in Sustainability (May 2016), worked on a project in North Scottsdale with Mountainside Middle School from August 2015 thru May 2016 funded by both the School of Sustainability at ASU and a GK-12 grant.

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Marketplace solutions work for many needs, but not all of them — particularly some of the most basic ones. That’s what Rimjhim Aggarwal, an associate professor in ASU’s School of Sustainability, found when she considered how affordable access to clean water could be guaranteed.

To find a viable alternative, Aggarwal and Senior Sustainability Scientist LaDawn Haglund began documenting the way court systems have been used to advance water rights in emerging economies with fairly well-developed legal systems: Brazil, South Africa and India. They chose this approach because courts can provide a space for citizens to see that their rights are protected.

By dissecting court cases and sharing what they find, Haglund and Aggarwal are shining light on the power that courts and human rights language can have in advancing the right to water.

A previously thought to be extinct harlequin frog (Atelopus varius), known as the clown frog, has been rediscovered.

Dr. Jan Schipper, a Postdoctoral Research Associate with the School of Life Sciences and the Center for Biodiversity Outcomes has been studying a small population of this species in Costa Rica and is now working with ASU Foundation to support a rescue plan.

The Atelopus varius, is now listed under the Conservation Status of Critically Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). This status is the highest risk category assigned by the IUCN Red List for wild species; it indicates that this species is facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild.

Recent variation in air temperature, precipitation, stream flow patterns, and the subsequent spread of a pathogenic chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) linked to global climate change have been the leading cause of decline for A. varius (Lips et al. 2003 and Pounds et al. 2006).

Engaging people in the United States and Costa Rica, researchers are raising funds to implement a biosecurity protocol to prevent exposure of the frogs to other strains of chytrid.

We can all play a role in saving it! Watch this video to learn more.

During a recent visit to the ASU Wrigley Institute, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack emphasized the importance of continuous collaboration among different sectors to guarantee the nation’s food security in the face of increasing climate change.

The expert panel agreed that universities, in particular, have a unique capacity to work across disciplines to provide evidence-based solutions to protect farms against storms, invasive species and droughts.

This event was hosted in partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. A full video is available here.

In collaboration with The Nature Conservancy and the Center for Biodiversity Outcomes (CBO), Kelly Gravuer began her Postdoctoral NatureNet Science Fellowship on September 26, 2016.

Kelly is investigating how food production areas can assist in climate mitigation. Kelly is committed to developing sustainable solutions that include ecological and sociological considerations. Details on this research project can be found here.

CBO will be announcing a series to share updates on its various research projects soon.

The Earth Genome (EG) is an organization that exists to facilitate the understanding and exchange of large and complex scientific data in support of decision-making that preserves the environment, while adverting economic and social disruptions caused by mismanagement of natural resources.

In partnership with ASU Center for Biodiversity Outcomes (CBO) scientists and the World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WBCSD), EG created the first tool focused on revealing options for corporate decisions on water use.

This tool, called the Green Infrastructure Support Tool (GIST), was piloted in the Brazos River Basin in Texas. EG stated, “Reactions to GIST have been overwhelmingly positive. GIST will soon cover the United States, Mexico and Canada as we roll it out globally.”

ASU's Center for Biodiversity Outcomes (CBO) recently launched a Knowledge Partnership with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).

On February 13, 2017, WBCSD will be partnering on a North American meeting with ASU and GreenBiz on the eve of the annual GreenBiz conference.

This event is still in the planning phase, but promises to be engaging and informative for WBCSD member companies.

Although plants are an essential species in our ecosystem – sustaining us by contributing oxygen, food, medicine, materials and fibers – we experience a shortage of plant experts that can help conduct research to inform important biodiversity conservation efforts.

To address this shortage of experts, ASU's School of Life Sciences launched a new master’s degree program in plant biology and conservation in partnership with the Desert Botanical Garden.

“Plants are an incredibly important part of the ecosystem,” said Julie Stromberg, a senior sustainability scientist and director of the program. “Unfortunately, people don’t really think about the fact that plants contribute oxygen, the food we eat, the materials and fibers we use, as well as medicines. As a society, we need to look at plants as the key elements that sustain us, spiritually as well as in more tangible ways.”

Dry forests in Latin America are among the world’s most threatened tropical forests. Less than 10 percent of their original prevalence remains in many countries.

The Latin American Seasonally Dry Tropical Forest Floristic Network, in partnership with other organizations, engaged more than 50 scientists and conservationists from Latin America and the Caribbean to develop an unprecedented database of dry forest tree species.

Janet Franklin – distinguished sustainability scientist and Regents’ Professor in ASU's School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning – was one of the many contributors to this project, sharing inventory data collected on a National Science Foundation-sponsored project.

ASU's Center for Biodiversity Outcomes (CBO) is currently hiring a postdoctoral fellow in partnership with Conservation International (CI). This fellowship will focus on exploring nature’s role in achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.

Some of these goals include affordable and clean energy, sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption and production, climate action, and life below water and on land.

Application for this position closes Monday, Oct. 31, 2016. Additional details and the online application are available here.

Penny Langhammer, research associate with the Center for Biodiversity Outcomes (CBO), is co-author of a recent study titled “Assessing the Cost of Global Biodiversity and Conservation Knowledge.”

The study looks at the financial cost and importance of compiling and delivering global conservation knowledge products.

Among these knowledge banks is The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species™, which recently welcomed ASU-CBO as its ninth global partner. The Red List is the world’s standard for quantifying species extinction risk, comprising over 80,000 species.

According to the study's authors, “Ensuring that biodiversity and conservation knowledge products are sufficiently up-to-date, comprehensive and accurate is fundamental to informing decision-making for biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.”

As Earth’s population continues to grow, so does the challenge to meet its increasing needs with finite resources. And as stakes rise higher in the fight against climate change, one wonders about next steps: Can policy solve the problem? Or are we in need of an even greater intervention?

Social norms through observation

A study published in Science and co-authored by Marty Anderies – a professor in the School of Sustainability – indicates that social norms may have a greater effect on individual behavior changes than policy alone.

The authors focused on the effect that perceived social norms have on our actions. In doing so, they discovered a “tipping point” where harmful behaviors may turn into exemplary actions. In other words, the point at which there’s hope.

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What makes communities successful in managing their shared resources, such as forests and water?

This was a central question addressed by the late Elinor Ostrom, the founding director of Arizona State University’s Center for Behavior, Institutions and the Environment (CBIE) and the 2009 Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences.

In her 1990 book “Governing the Commons,” Ostrom – also a distinguished sustainability scientist at ASU – proposed eight principles that contribute to success based on her experience with hundreds of case studies. The principles include, for example, the existence of clearly defined boundaries that delineate who is allowed to use the shared resource, as well as cheap, accessible conflict resolution mechanisms.

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Christopher Frettoloso, a senior sustainability major and co-founder of BetR-Blok, LLC, talks about his company’s sustainable building material in a recent State Press article. BetR-Bloks are created using recycled paper and other cellulose materials, according to the company’s website.